Navigating a Rebuild

It's a big day in the basketball media landscape as ESPN lost Woj to college and then turned around fired their most talented writer, Zach Lowe.

By all accounts, this is purely a financial decision. Zach Lowe is paid well, but it's not insane. He's not making Stephen A. Smith money, by any means.

It makes zero sense for ESPN. But I think this is probably a blessing in disguise for Lowe. Everyone thinks this is a travesty and Lowe will either get a better offer elsewhere or go out on his own (there's a lot of value in not having to answer to anyone!). He's already loved by everyone, has a wildly popular podcast, and an audience that will follow him anywhere.

Meanwhile, ESPN is left with analysis like this.

And this.

🙄🙄🙄🙄

The football rankings are updated in advance of week 4.

Football Rankings

The Model takes on the gridiron.

Maine Basketball RankingsLucas McNelly

I talked through the top ten on the podcast.

Then, WHOU's Ethan Snow joined me to overreact to Week 3, including a sportsmanship move that some might consider questionable.

This is turning into a pretty fun weekly discussion where a guest and I talk about the week's games with varying degrees of seriousness (mostly serious).

We covered a lot of teams in this. Deering! OOB! Fryeburg! But one team we were really high on was Falmouth--probably the surprise team of the early season, especially after last year.

Falmouth football players call for resignation of head coach

The petition follows an exodus of players and a rate of concussions and fractures six times higher than the national high school average.

Bangor Daily NewsSam Canfield

I mentioned in the podcast that I should probably get someone from Falmouth on the podcast (also I was wearing an old Falmouth shooting shirt Athletic Director James Coffey sent me years ago) and lo and behold, Falmouth's new head coach, Spencer Emerson reached out.

We had a great conversation about the challenges of re-building a program, Emerson's progression on the coaching ladder, getting buy-in from the players, the overlap in athletes that play multiple sports, and what he would change if he had unlimited power over the MPA (I LOVE this answer).

My kid even crashed the party.

Or you can listen to it on Apple Podcasts.

Behind the Scenes of Falmouth’s Resurgence with Head Coach Spencer Emerson

One of the early surprises of the football season has been Falmouth. After a season in which they had to forfeit a game to Portland and players petitioned for a

Apple Podcasts

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Mike Mandell has a great story about a couple of coaches leading the way.

Game-changers: Cony and Leavitt football coaches instrumental to sport’s evolution in Maine

Mike Hathaway and the Hornets are set to host B.L. Lippert and the Rams on Saturday night in meeting of offensive innovators.

Kennebec Journal and Morning SentinelMike MandellKennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel

Someone went to the trouble of ranking all the NBA refs by how many Last 2 Minute report calls of theirs are wrong. Truly the Lord's work.

You're not going to believe this, but the names at the top are not the names you're used to seeing in big games.

L2M reports: Which NBA referees make the fewest mistakes?

No one is perfect, not even the best at their craft. That’s the case with NBA officials, who have to make decisions in tenths of a second while overseeing some of the fastest and most physica…

HoopsHypeHoopsHype staff

I hope you were sitting down.

Tony Brothers? 46th. Scott Foster? 51st!

Here's your reminder that Heal Points are updated.

I might be missing some games

Is there a higher compliment?

We've got a lot of really interesting matchups this week.

Falmouth takes on Fryeburg. Deering travels to Massabesic. Bonny Eagle heads to Saco to play Thornton Academy. And Leavitt hosts Cony, hoping to avoid going to 1-3.

The Model's picks for this weekend's games are after the jump.